Nox stood very still, letting the tower's familiar details ground him—stone walls, dust-choked tomes, the faint metallic scent of the Astrarium's glow. Anything to distract from the burning sigil etched into the back of his hand.
Lira didn't notice it.She was too busy staring at the floating hourglass.
"Nox," she whispered, "it reacted the moment you touched the key. What did you do?"
He swallowed.
What could he tell her?
That time froze?That he'd been dragged into a void where moments flowed like water?That something ancient had branded him with a power he never asked for?
The rune pulsed again—a warning.A boundary.
"I…" Nox forced his voice steady. "I think it recognized the key, that's all."
Lira narrowed her eyes.She was not convinced, but she let it go—at least for now.
She approached the Astrarium Hourglass slowly, as though afraid it would snap shut like a trap. Its glass surface shimmered with faint cracks, each one filled with starlight. The silver sand inside drifted upward in slow spirals.
"Master Orion will want to hear about this," she said. "He's studied the Astrarium for twenty years. Nothing like this has ever happened."
The thought sent a cold knot into Nox's stomach.
Before he could respond, Lira's gaze flicked toward his hand.
"Nox… you're shaking."
He hid the sigil behind his sleeve. "Just tired."
Lira opened her mouth—likely to argue—but stopped when a distant bell rang through the tower, low and metallic.
Her expression tightened."That's the Observatory bell. Someone's coming."
Nox stiffened."Who would come at this hour?"
"Only someone with authority."
The steps in the stairwell below confirmed it—slow, heavy, deliberate. The kind of footsteps that didn't need to rush because the world adjusted to their pace.
Then a voice drifted upward, cool and sharp as a blade:
"Lira. Nox. Step away from the Astrarium."
Master Orion emerged from the stairwell.
His presence filled the room instantly—robes embroidered with constellations, hair streaked with age and starlight dust, and eyes that reflected the night sky. He carried with him the scent of old parchment and midnight air.
Lira bowed.Nox forced himself to do the same.
Orion scanned the floating hourglass with an unreadable expression.
"It awakened," he murmured. "At last."
He approached Nox, and for a terrifying heartbeat, Nox thought he somehow saw the sigil hidden beneath his sleeve.
"Boy," Orion said quietly. "What exactly did you feel?"
Nox hesitated.
And something—maybe instinct, maybe the echo of the Verge—whispered:
Choose.Every word shifts the hour.
Before he could speak, Orion's gaze snapped toward the hourglass again.The Astrarium pulsed once, hard enough to rattle the bookshelves.
Lira stumbled back.Orion didn't move.
Silver sand spilled from the hourglass—upward, as always—but this time some of it drifted sideways, forming a faint trail toward Nox's hand.
Orion's eyes widened.
"No… Not another one."
He grabbed Nox's wrist.
The sleeve slid back.The sigil shone.
Lira gasped.Orion's grip tightened.
"Nox," he said, voice low with something between awe and fear, "you bear the Verge Mark?"
Nox's breath caught. "You… know what it is?"
Orion did not answer.He turned sharply, robe sweeping like a falling shadow.
"Lira. Lock the doors.""What? Why—""Now!"
She scrambled to obey.
Orion faced Nox again, voice softer but strained.
"Listen carefully. Do not touch the hourglass again. Do not speak of the mark. And do not—under any circumstance—let the Scholars' Council see it."
Nox's pulse hammered.
"Why?"
Master Orion looked him dead in the eyes.
"Because the last Verge-Bearer destroyed an entire city… without meaning to."
The tower trembled as the Astrarium Hourglass gave another pulse—stronger, deeper, like a heartbeat.
A warning.
Or perhaps… a call.